


Lessons

by Theoroark



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Ana being the PTA's nightmare mom, Gabe being smug about being Fareeha's fave uncle, Gen, Jack does not understand the youth, Pre-Fall of Overwatch, War, young Fareeha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-10 12:06:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12298905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theoroark/pseuds/Theoroark
Summary: Fareeha had found the picture in one of her history books. It was awkward, learning about the strike team in class, when all her classmates and the teacher were making very obvious efforts not to stare at her. But when they got to the page where her mother was standing there, holding a flag, wind blowing her hair back, the teacher could not resist asking her, “do you know the story behind this one, Fareeha?”





	Lessons

Fareeha had found the picture in one of her history books. It was awkward, learning about the strike team in class, when all her classmates and the teacher were making very obvious efforts not to stare at her. But when they got to the page where her mother was standing there, holding a flag, wind blowing her hair back, the teacher could not resist asking her, “do you know the story behind this one, Fareeha?”

 

Fareeha did not. So she asked her mother about it when she went home that night. But her mother responded with only a dismissive, “it was not anything.”

 

Fareeha could not go back to class with that answer and moreover, now she actually cared. So she headed to Commander Morrison’s office, to see if he could help her.

 

He looked surprised when he opened the door and saw her there. “Fareeha! Is everything alright?”

 

“Yeah,” she said. “I just need help with a school project.” She hefted the book up, and Commander Morrison nodded and ushered her in.

 

“What’s the project?” he asked, settling in behind his desk as Fareeha placed the book on it, forced to stand in his cramped office. He looked at the cover. “It’s for history? Is it about the Crisis?”

 

“Yeah,” Fareeha said. She flipped to the bookmarked page and pointed to the photo. “It’s not like, a project really, just my teacher wanted to know, where was this photo taken?”

 

Commander Morrison’s jaw tightened and Fareeha’s stomach sank. She was probably not going to be able to pull this off.

 

“Why don’t you ask your mother?” he asked. She suppressed an exasperated sigh and drew on her prepared excuse.

 

“I asked her, and she couldn’t say.”

 

“Couldn’t say,” Commander Morrison repeated. Fareeha thought that since it was not technically a lie, it would be easier to stick with, but she still was unable to meet his eyes. He did sigh now. “Fareeha, I know you’re getting to an age where…”

 

Fareeha waited patiently for him to finish that sentence, and only spoke up when it became apparent he was unable to. “It’s just one photo,” she said. “And it’s for school. My teacher will get mad if I don’t have an answer. My mom also doesn’t want me to get in trouble at school.”

 

“I’m sure your mother could write you a note explaining everything to them.”

 

Fareeha bit her lip in frustration. “Commander Morrison, it’s just one picture-”

 

“I know, Fareeha.” He sounded very tired as he shut the book. “But it’s a picture from a… very difficult, very complicated time. For your mother, and for everyone.” He stared at the cover of the textbook, which showed an Omnic and a human standing side by side in front of the globe. “Your mother hasn’t wanted to tell you about this stuff both because she wants you to be prepared, and because she wants to be able to prepare.” He slid the book towards her. “If you learn anything from this, it should be that you can’t go through the world untouched by its troubles, no matter who you are or where you’re from. But your mother wants to protect you for a little bit longer. And it’s not my place to contradict her.”

 

Fareeha sighed heavily as she left his office. She would have to find someone less beholden to her mother than her mother’s boss. That ruled out Reinhardt. She might be able to get something out of Torbjörn, but he was still on paternity leave. That left her with only one member of the strike team, and he was very skilled at never telling Fareeha things he did not want her to know.

 

Still, at least talking to him was fun, she thought as she slipped into Uncle Gabe’s office.

 

At the sound of someone entering, he looked up, eyes angry and fierce, and immediately softening when he saw who it was. “Fareeha! What’s going on?”

 

“I need your help with something from school,” she said, sitting down in the chair in front of his desk and sliding the book over to him. He leaned over to look at it, and laughed when he saw the subject matter.

 

“You need me to proofread this thing? Because that is not how the Battle for Midtown went down.”

 

Fareeha rolled her eyes. “I just need help with the picture, Uncle Gabe.” She tapped at her mother’s face and he focused on that. “Do you know where this was taken?”

 

He raised an eyebrow. “I mean. We both know the obvious question here.” She sighed.

 

“My mom didn’t want to tell me, and Commander Morrison was a complete dweeb about it, and so…”

 

“Didn’t want to tell you?” He leaned back, frowning. “What exactly did she say?”

 

“She said, ‘It’s not anything.’”

 

“Ah. Well, you’re wrong, Fareeha. She told you exactly what it is.”

 

She glared at him. “If you turn this into a dumb riddle, so help me-”

 

He laughed. “It wasn’t taken at any battle or raid or anything. It’s a publicity photo, something to use in recruitment material or whatever. It was taken at a soundstage in L.A. We did a bunch of them. Stopped by In-N-Out afterwards.” He looked off into the distance. “Man, I haven’t had them in forever. I should see if they deliver internationally.”

 

She stared at the picture. “I don’t get it. Why did you take them? Why not use a picture from an actual battle?”

 

“Because those pictures wouldn’t be pretty, Fareeha,” he said. “They’d be us surrounded by scrapped Omnics after we carpet bombed an Omnium. It’d be us leaving civillians behind, because we couldn’t save everyone. If they wanted a picture of your mom, it’d be a picture of her on a rooftop somewhere in a ghillie suit, on her third hour of sitting perfectly still.” He shrugged and tapped the book. “They want to talk about the triumph in here. They want to tell a clean and inspiring story about the Crisis. They use actual pictures from the war, they couldn’t make as compelling an argument.”

 

Fareeha sat thinking about that, while Uncle Gabe watched her. “But why wouldn’t mom just tell me that?” she asked. “Commander Morrison just said she doesn't want to talk to me about the war. If this wasn’t really the war, why didn’t she just tell me?”

 

He shrugged again. “I don’t know, Fareeha. Jack’s right. She doesn’t really want to talk to you about any of this stuff until you’re older. But if I had to guess? She knows you’re going to see the Crisis being portrayed like this a lot. And she wants you to start thinking a bit harder about it.”

 

Fareeha turned the book back to face her, and looked at paragraph headers, the “Heroes of our World” and the “Humanity’s Light.” “I don’t know why Commander Morrison couldn’t have just told me that,” she said.

 

Uncle Gabe was trying to hide his smile, and completely failing. “Well, you know Fareeha, Jack cares about you very much and wants what’s best for you, he’s just a bit…”

 

“Super awkward?”

 

That broke him. “Around kids, yeah,” Uncle Gabe said between laughs.

 

Fareeha left Uncle Gabe’s office satisfied. The next day in class, she repeated what he had told her. The teacher nodded with a tight-lipped smile and gave Fareeha a note to give to her mother after class. Her mother read it, and then took her out for ice cream.

 

“I thought I wasn’t supposed to get in trouble,” Fareeha said as she licked her cone.

 

Her mother snorted. “Some things are worth getting in trouble for,” she said. “And if that book isn’t teaching how to figure out what those things are, you don’t need to listen to a word it says.”

**Author's Note:**

> Jack really does care about Fareeha he just 1) loves his best friend very much and doesn't want to hurt her, and 2) really is the absolute worst around children. He tries. He's just so very bad at it.
> 
> I'm @tacticalgrandma on tumblr if you want to talk to me there!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, and any comments/kudos would mean the world <3


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